A Call for Help
by AlchemyFreak0218
Summary: Sometimes others need to push you to help yourself. These boys have all but accepted their fates at the hands of their father, thinking there's no way out. Maybe a few friendly faces can help them free themselves. child abuse
1. New year Old Pains

Hello~! Time to get this ball rolling! Let's see just how rusty I am hm? -AF

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Freshmen year of high school. A new school new beginning right? Edward wasn't so sure; it started just as every year before did, with a tangent from "him" about how he "better not make a fool out of himself like last year", hell, it's even raining like last year, the familiar sound of rain against the concrete was both calming and foreboding. Luckily the stop wasn't far from his house this year, just down the street at the corner. The phrase was just something to tear him down he knew, but he couldn't help how his thoughts drifted and stuck a little too long on past year's mistakes. He snapped out of it as the bus screeched to a halt in front of him, the rusted, creaky, black doors opening. He was almost grateful for the rain, it dimmed the hideous peeling yellow paint of the bus. It made him feel a little nauseous. He looked up into the windows, the cold looks from his peers stabbed him straight through the gut, giving him a worse stone in his chest than he already had. He looked to make sure the bus was indeed bus 301 before slowly walking up the three steps. The bus driver hummed and nodded to him, giving him the same expression as the other kids. Edward swallowed the lump in his throat best he could. He sat in the second row seat, bus driver side and sunk low in his seat, adjusting his sleeves and collar. He could feel the 8 something other teens staring at him from various other spots in the bus, new kid syndrome. He chose his outfit carefully today, the bruises on his arms today are only on his upper arms, so his favorite red flannel was perfect, roll up the sleeves to his elbows and poof! semi-fashion. His fades jeans and red converse just kept the theme flowing. He brushed his bangs away from his cheek and winced a bit, forgetting the dark blue spot on his cheekbone. He couldn't hide the bruise on his cheek until he got to the bathrooms, his foundation should do the trick and keep eyes off him, at least for today. For now he just turned towards the window and slipped his earphones in, deciding that music was a far better substitute for the world.

~time break~

Edward triple checked his class card, just to be sure. "Room 603: Mr. Hughes, 5th period Biology." he mumbled, looking up at the door. "603...this is the room. No mistakes yet, Ed." He glanced around, the school colors were deep blue and gold and were painted around everywhere. "Go Griffins" He murmured quietly, pumping his fist weakly. They were nice but the school seemed rather old, Ed noticed some paint chipped here an there. The majority of the student body was off in the cafeteria and "free zone" areas. Edward sighed and leaned back against the wall a bit, watching the rain drip off the overhanging ceiling. He had to admit, an outdoor open campus was nice, refreshing even from the middle school cramped walls. He checked his watch, Lunch was about 3/4th done, he had eaten quickly and just looked for the room, He didn't want to be late and cause a scene. Besides, he couldn't really make friends that well, so there was no point in tryi-

"hello." He visibly jumped at the interruption of his internal monologue and looked to his right, pulling the binder a bit closer to his ribs. He was faced with a white buttoned down chest, and, much to his annoyance, he had to look up. He was met with kind hazel eyes and a big smile surrounded by facial hair. "You're one of those students eh? Well just don't try to suck up to me, cause that doesn't work well for ya." Edward furrowed his brow and looked at his class card again, then the man, then the card again.

"Mr...Hughes?" He asked quizzically, "You're...not what I pictured for a biology teacher." The man pouted a bit then laughed, soothing Ed's nerves a bit.

"What? Because I'm not super strict looking? Because I talk like a normal person and not some grouchy old man?" He stuffed a hand into his khaki pants and used the other to unlock the door. "I wouldn't judge people by how they look. Now which one of my students are ya, hm?" Edward shuffled inside behind him, setting his binder down on the far right corner desk.

"ah, Edward Elric, sir." He frowned a bit, he didn't want to talk to people. The teacher seemed nice but that could be a problem if he gets nosy...

"No need for the sir unless you're in trouble, Edward!" The teacher waved his finger around as he browsed through his folders. "Mr. Hughes is plenty formal enough. If you feel comfortable, Hughes is fine also. Now let me see if I can find your file." Edward nodded and decided to glance around the room. The room was painted a light shade of beige, the usually supportive pictures scattered about here and there. "Success" this and "Change" that. But, as Ed got closer to the opposing wall, he found more pictures, each of a little blonde girl with green eyes, pigtails. She was cute and there were pictures of her EVERYWHERE. "That's my girl. Elicia." Edward looked over to Hughes, who was leaned over his desk with the dopiest little grin on his face. "Cutest little thing to ever grace my life! I couldn't help but put her up around the classroom."

"hm. She is cute. Is she in school yet?" Edward called, still looking at the pictures.

"Kindergarten~! One time she fell on the slide and hurt her knee, I skipped out on half my workday so I could make sure she was okay." Edward had to inwardly chuckle at the man's tone, head over heels. He looked at a photo of the father and the girl together, they both looked so giddy, she was on his lap waving at the camera, and Hughes had the most proud expression Ed had ever seen.

"...you're a good father, Mr. Hughes." He smiled a bit, the expression feeling a little bit foreign before he moved on. Mr. Hughes' desk was clean and neat, if it could sparkle it would. It was a big L shape on the opposing side of the room from the door, and was a deep wood color. The student desk's were as good as you could hope for in a high school, a couple engravings here and there. There were a few words Ed wanted to have burned off but he shrugged it off and worked his way back to his desk. His desk was the most carved into, some of it was inspirational some of it was ghetto trash, all of it gave the desk it's novelty "back corner of the classroom" look. Edward winced when the annoyingly high pitched bell rang and turned to Mr. Hughes.

"I've found your file...you've had some problems huh..." Edward winced again and fiddled with his binder.

"Well, You see I-"

"However, none of it was done by you...rather TO you..." Mr. Hughes looked up through his glasses and gave Edward a look he did not recognize. "Don't worry, nothing like that will happen this year if I can help it." Edward gave a weary expression and nodded, if only the man had a clue. "now normally I have assigned seats for the sake of organisation, but since you came early and all and have taken a liking to that chair, you can have that seat this semester." Edward smiled again and sat down, the tensity brought about earlier leaving him again.

"T-thank you, Mr. Hughes I appreciate that. I'll do my best to stay away from trouble." Mr. Hughes grinned at him before walking and opening the door, allowing the flood of teenagers into the room. Edward shrunk down and just silently prepared his desk, allowing minimal eye contact with the other students as they received their seats. Mr. Hughes walked around checking to be sure everyone was where they should be.

"And lastly, Edward Elric. Right here in the corner, right my boy?" He gave a quick pat to Edward's back and Ed couldn't stop the flinch and tensing of his muscles, there were welts that were safely hidden under his shirt. He quickly regained composure and nodded into his binder.

"Y-yes Mr. Hughes." Edward didn't fail to notice the concerned glance he received at his quiet answer, before Mr. Hughes thought better of it and moved on.

"Good, now I would like all of you to take out a piece of paper, we're gonna take some quick first day of school notes. Nice and easy, kids."

Right, Edward scoffed to himself, Nice and easy.

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okay! First chapter, did I do okay for two years of rust? Give me some feedback! AF


	2. Routine

The final bell rang and he felt a simultaneous sigh of relief and trepidation leave his body. The rest of the school day had gone by without an incident, the 5th period teacher who got a bit too buddy buddy only gave him a concerned tilt of his head as Edward left the room, a smile and a wave was enough to sate his concern, for today anyhow. He stood up and made his way to the front gates, as slowly as possible to postpone the inevitable. He got on the bus and, lucky him, his seat from this morning was left open. He put in his ear phones and leaned against the window, worry sinking into his bones and making him feel cold and hollow. He overheard some faint laughter before a sudden cool feeling flooded his stomach. He bolted up right and yanked out an ear bud, looking down and horror filled his being at the large, dark Gatorade stain on his shirt. He could barely hear the girl apologizing to him over the sound of his pulse in his ears. **he's never going to let this slide. I was so close to just a lecture. i'm fucked. **His thoughts raced even as he waved the girl off with a "it's no problem" and put an ear bud back in. He tried to brush off what he could but it was fruitless. He almost wanted to cry, his cheek throbbed as though to remind him of what's to come. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned up the volume to his music, tuning out everything, even his mind.

"brother. Brother. Brother!" He jolted his head up to look up and meet the same gold eyes he's come to loathe or love, it was mostly the former unless it was the frail boy in front of him. He hadn't noticed he managed to walk out of the bus onto the corner and lean against the bent stop sign. He pulled out an ear bud and worked up a weak smile, which the boy did not reciprocate. The kid in front of him wore a blue button down t-shirt with a white vest. His jeans and converse matched his outfit similarly to Edward's. His blonde hair was swept over to one side, his eyes had dark black rings under them, and he overall was smaller and more fragile appearing than Edward. The pale, tired looking youth only looked down to his shirt, then back up with a worried, almost panicked expression. "When did this happen it looks fresh! H-how bad do you think it'll be? Are you okay? Was the rest of school okay? What happened!" Edward smiled a bit more real and but a hand on the boys shoulder, receiving only a tiny flinch in response.

"Relax Al, it's okay. It happened on the bus home, I was close to a victory today. But the rest of school was great only one teacher got nosy, but he was nice and backed off when needed so it was okay. As for how bad..." He paused and swallowed heavily, losing eye contact for a moment and when he looked back, Al nodded knowingly.

"I guess I'll sneak upstairs immediately. I-I'm sorry you're good day is gonna end bad, brother." Al gave him a very light hug, very hyper aware of the ongoing war on his brother's skin. Edward returned the hug, a bit tighter since he knew there were less wounds on the others flesh.

"It's alright, I should've known better, I always fuck up, so it's my fault this time. Besides, it's best for you to go up early anyways. First day of school is always brutal for us both, I'll take it for us both this year okay?" The younger tensed and looked at him warily.

"**Both? **are you sure? You're still eh..."adjusting" to the last one. Can you take both? I can handle my own you know." His voice got lower the longer he spoke, knowing speaking here was both dangerous and necessary. Edward nodded and glanced around, making sure the windows were closed, same routine every day, like clockwork.

"I'm sure, you don't need that today, you need sleep and you don't "adjust" as well as I do, Al. It's for the best of us both, I can handle it." Al slowly nodded, still looking unsure and a bit worried. "come on, we should go before "he" starts getting angry about us not being home yet." Al's eyes widened and nodded, taking Edward's hand and starting to jog up the street, stopping a house short so they could catch their breathe before walking in. The house was a two story town home, a mixture of dark gray and sky blue paint making the house pop a bit from the rest. There were pale pink and red roses on either side of the house, carefully and artfully groomed. A silhouette of a man and woman talking were on the far window, making the two boys shiver a bit in the wave of apprehension. "me first." Edward finally said, taking a deep breath and walking up the steps, 7 to be exact, he counts every day. He slowly knocks four times on the door, hearing the speaking in the house cease, before opening the door, Al slipping in behind him. He slipped into the kitchen quickly, letting the two get a good look at him as his brother swiftly leaped up the stairs, careful to not make a sound. Edward set his backpack down quietly, attempting to force the shaking to stop by adjusting his shirt, the deep stain across half the shirt becoming painfully obvious. He heard a faint sound of anger and quickly looked to the floor by the man's feet. He didn't have to look up to know how both adults looked. His father wore his hair in the usual ponytail, his business suit pressed and primed to perfection, Edward could only see the man's black pants and shiny shoes. His mom wore white heels, low but enough to give her an inch or so. She wore her usual blue dress, her brunette locks in a loose side ponytail, he didn't need to look to see the worry etched in her face. She never wanted this, but she couldn't stop it. She would receive the same if she intervened so both boys had already told her long ago to stay quiet. Please. His father shifted and crossed his arms.

"Eight minutes late." Edward flinched slightly at the loud, cold voice, the shaking worsening despite his attempts to slow it. That's right, Al and he had spoken a bit too long. He had also zoned out into his music, no wonder Al was frantic when getting his attention. Who knows how long he had sat like that. "and you managed to fuck up your appearance while you were at it huh." Edward swallowed the lump in his throat and clenched his hands, folding his thumbs into his palms. He nodded quickly, knowing no answer made it worse.

"Yes sir, I'm sorry sir." He mumbled, looking to the stairs and then back to the floor. He could see just from the glance that Al was at the top, he was probably shaking more than the elder right now. He saw the feet move, and his mother's shadow reach out a hand before putting both to her face. They both knew what was coming. Eight minutes late. Eight minutes of discipline. Plus "making a fool of yourself and our name". Another ten. eighteen minutes. If he were to take his brothers', twenty six. Any discipline going over twenty minutes resulted in the hand and belt becoming the fist and knee. He shook violently when his father put a hand on his shoulder. No eye contact, he hated the color, it made it worse. **I'm the spitting image of him, it's always worse.**

"Shall we begin the lesson then Edward?" He always asked first. But it was never a question. Never a choice. He only wanted Edward to say it. To accept it. It only took two words for the first fist to fly.

"Yes sir."

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Why do I always return with pain and despair? Here's chapter two! Tell me what you think :)


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